Hong Kong's frontline social workers cannot halt the tide of domestic violence on their own. In the dispute about their caseloads, that is one thing the workers and the Social Welfare Department agree on. By the time social workers are called in to help families identified as at risk, the problems have already gotten out of hand. Their brief is to safeguard the welfare of children and defuse domestic crises that can lead to violence and even tragedy. The department rightly says that family distress can only be solved if the wider community addresses the causes.
Social workers in the department's family and child protective services unit, however, remain the community's principal point of contact with severely distressed families. Their caseloads reflect the scale of a largely hidden social problem. They claim their load is so heavy that they struggle to provide their clients with the support they need. As we report today, the number of cases each worker shoulders at any one time is set to rise from 49 in 2007-08 to 51 in 2008-09. To support their claim for a big increase in the number of social workers, their union cites figures from the United States and Canada of less than 20 such cases per worker. That comparison is not necessarily valid, without evidence that the nature of the cases and other support services are also comparable. A more worrying perspective is that the union says that even if the caseload was cut to 30 and each social worker was able to meet two families a day, each family would be counselled only once every two weeks. That can be a long time for people in crisis.
How are the social workers coping? According to their union, with great difficulty - which is stressing them and sapping morale.
The number of reported cases of family violence continues to rise. A number of horrific murder-suicide cases in recent years has compelled a more proactive response by police and social welfare authorities. The problem has come out of the closet as more victims have been willing to shrug off a culturally based reluctance to come forward. The government has rightly pledged to make the battle against domestic violence a priority. The department has added 28 workers to the unit over the past two years, although this year only five more are to be added, making a total of 156. It has introduced group counselling for needy families to relieve their feelings of isolation and ease the burden on the social workers. These steps are to be welcomed. But given the nature of such work, there has to be a concern that incremental measures are not keeping up with need. The work is not confined to counselling. Administrative tasks, such as child custody applications, reports for police and the courts, and housing and welfare applications are important too.
Hopefully, Secretary for Labour and Welfare Matthew Cheung Kin-chung will grant the workers' representatives the early meeting they are seeking to air their concerns. The family is the basic unit of society. Family stress knows no social boundaries, but it strikes hardest at those rendered vulnerable by unemployment, poverty, drug and alcohol problems and isolation. Thanks to our fast-paced society and the social problems rife in new towns with underdeveloped infrastructure, the numbers of such people in need of help are rising. Social workers may not be able to solve their problems on their own, but they can make a big difference. While longer-term initiatives to address the root causes of family distress are welcome, people already in trouble must not be allowed to slip through the safety net.
